URC, Round Five - Teams and Predictions

FRIDAY PREVIEW: The Bulls will be out to flex their muscles on the road again when they face the Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday.

It will be the Pretoria side’s second tour match after they beat the Ospreys in Swansea last weekend.

The Bulls will enter Round Five in fourth position on the standings after three wins from matches and they will be favourites again despite resting a few of their Springboks.

The Scarlets are coming off their first victory of the season against Cardiff away and it’s a result that will boost their confidence going into the clash with the Bulls.

They will, however, be mindful of the fact that they need to deliver an effective performance on attack and defence to topple the men from Pretoria.

The Bulls are in hot form and they showed their true character in a challenging second half against the Ospreys, in which they had to overcome a red card and two yellow cards and finish the match with uncontested scrums to earn the 29-19 win.

The Bulls’ confidence will be bolstered by the fact that they have scored 15 more points than the Scarlets in three outings to the Welsh outfit’s four, while they have also conceded 31 points fewer in these matches.

They will, however, be careful to write off the Scarlets, who played to a 20-20 draw against Benetton away in their opening game of the season, before suffering a nine-point defeat against Cardiff, and a heart-breaking one-point defeat against Connacht on their home ground in their last two outings.

These results will undoubtedly fuel their motivation to bounce back with a bang and to do their best to possibly lunge into the top eight on the standings.

The teams have met in the competition on three previous occasions with the Bulls winning two of those matches – both in Pretoria with 57 points or more – but they suffered a 28-37 defeat against the Scarlets in Wales last season – a defeat they will certainly want to set right.

The story continues below…

“They [Scarlets] are the one Welsh team that has beaten us,” said Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White.

“They did not only beat Cardiff last week but drew with Benetton also, so they are a difficult team that we take seriously.

“Every game we play as a franchise is important. It doesn’t matter whether we are playing at home or away.

“Whenever we wear our club jersey, there is an expectation to win. That doesn’t change whether it’s the second game on tour, we just got to make sure we play as much as we can when we run out onto the field.”

The story continues below…

A fierce race to the top is heating up ♨️

Who do you think will end the season in top spot? 👀#BKTURC #URC pic.twitter.com/8w5JK8cKmC

— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) October 16, 2024

Meanwhile, Scarlets forwards coach Albert van den Berg knows what to expect from a side coached by White.

“The Bulls have got a great team, a lot of Springboks,” he said.

“They are physical, have a good scrum, good maul, their counter-attack is also really good.

“I know Jake [White] well, having played under him. He will get them fired up.

“He has said in the media that this is their year to perform, so they will have the right mindset.

“But we will be ready for them – we like to take on the big teams and the big players, all the guys will be fired up for this one.”

Friday’s other match will see Ulster up against the Ospreys in Belfast.

Ulster will enter the match with two wins in the tournament so far, while the Ospreys only have one victory to their name and that was against the Stormers in Round Two.

“Ulster are a very good team and there’s always a great atmosphere at Ravenhill,” said Ospreys head coach Toby Booth.

“It’s going to be a tough gig, but we’ve got some good players ourselves and some youngsters that will be full of excitement.

“What’s important for us in this one is that we be the best we can be.”

See below for Friday’s teams and predictions!

Friday, October 18

Scarlets v Bulls
(Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli – Kick-off: 19.35; 20.35 SAST; 18.35 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365com: Bulls by six points.

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Johnny Williams, 12 Eddie James, 11 Blair Murray, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Max Douglas, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Macs Page.

Bulls: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Kuyenzeka Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Armand van der Merwe (captain), 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Celimpilo Gumede, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Barend Smit, 23 Stedman Gans.

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales) and Nathan James (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)

Ulster v Ospreys
(Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast – Kick-off: Kick-off: 19.35; 18.35 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365com: Ulster by 13 points.

Ulster: 15 Mike Lowry, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Carson, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Aidan Morgan, 9 John Cooney, 8 David McCann, 7 Marcus Rea, 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 Harry Sheridan, 4 Alan O’Connor (captain), 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 James McCormick, 1 Eric O’Sullivan.
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Callum Reid, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Matty Rea, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 James Humphreys, 23 Jude Postlethwaite.

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morris (captain), 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Lewis Lloyd, 5 Lewis Jones, 4 Will Greatbanks, 3 Ben Warren, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Math Iowerth-Scott, 19 Rhys Thomas, 20 Dan Gemine, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Max Nagy.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (Ireland) and Andrew Fogarty (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)

Additional source: South African Rugby Union